The Hellbringers. In a realm beyond this one. Waiting for their freedom. It will take those born of two worlds. Those with ties to more than one race. Those who have a bond beyond life and death.
They will return the balance.
The Mother and the Father of all.
The demons that bind them.
The freedom of all.
Atlantis is our gateway, and it will always hold the secrets.
The stairs are long and narrow. The path is short and windy. The end is near when the breath of frost brushes down spines and souls.
Tap three times. Bleed for the cause. Open the doorway. Destroy the gods.
I read it.I read it again and again. Finally I read it out loud for everyone to hear, and Axl jotted it down in his notebook so that we had a copy of it. “What does it mean, though?”
“What do you think it means?” Ilia asked. “You’re one of the smartest supes I know. You came here, with your pink hair and naivety about our world, and you flourished. Where most of us would have crashed, you’ve soared. Your instincts are spot-on. So what is your gut telling you?”
I swallowed hard and read the words again. “I think we were born to destroy the gods. Only that doesn’t make sense, because our parents are gods, so why would they do that?”
“Maybe they only wanted us to destroy one particular god?” Asher murmured.
My head shot up, and our eyes met. “The mother of all?” I breathed.
He nodded. “Yes. I think that’s why Galindra was so hell-bent on stopping your parents. She’s protecting her mother.”
Some of it made sense; other parts were still completely unknown. “So the mother of all sank Atlantis, trying to stop us from being born. Only there was no way to stop it once the tides were set in motion.” I mused, still working it out in my head. “And the key to it all is in Atlantis.”
“The fates figured it out,” Asher said softly.
I jerked my head toward him. “Figured what out?”
“The only way to stop the gods,” he said, shaking his head. “Our bond is beyond this world, and I think it’s because we are meant to save it. We were born enemies, Maddi, our parents set to pit us against each other, but powers beyond them made sure it was never going to be that easy.”
I swallowed roughly. Could that be true? Had the mate bond between Asher and me been deliberately designed to overcome our genetics and power? Were we the only hope against our bio-parents? I had no idea how I felt about that sort of manipulation, but it was really too late to worry about. Asher was in my heart now, and if the last year taught me anything, it was that nothing was breaking our bond.
Connor cleared his throat, changing the subject. “We have to get back to Atlantis. Now. We have to figure out what this doorway down the stairs is—if it’s that literal in its meaning. This is where we’ll figure out how to stop the gods.”
It was clear that while Connor had heard about a mythical book with information on how to stop or contain the gods, he hadn’t expected it to be this book. And we hadn’t really learned much from it, but we all agreed … we needed to get to Atlantis.
Deciding to check the rest of the book, I flipped all the way to the end, but there was nothing else written there. “It will tell you when you need to know,” Mab said in her sage tone. “I believe this.”
She was probably right about that, so I slipped the book into my satchel, wanting to keep it close.
“We should go,” Asher said, his arm wrapping around me as I was hauled into his side. I felt a little better, just breathing him in. “I’m ready to get my life back. Which means we need to confront our parents, take them down, and put this entire thing to rest.”
Yeah, that was a great plan, but I knew it was easier said than done. All we had were some cryptic words. Cryptic words and enough determination to fill the ocean.
We just had to hope it was enough.
44
Princeps Jones and Louis were waiting for us outside the library. I wasn’t actually surprised to see them there. Louis always seemed to be two steps ahead of everyone else when it came to these things. “Are you ready to head to Atlantis?” he asked us, power rumbling around him.
No. Nope. No fucking way.
“Yep. Let’s get this over with.”
